What the . . .

I'm always amazed at the things we see during my guide trips. Many of the flats that we fish are far from the "beaten path" on Ray Roberts - sometimes the only footprints I see are those that I recognize as my Marlwalker prints from the previous week, month, or even season. I've walked up on feral hogs, deer, bass anglers sleeping in their boats, snapping turtles, dopers tending their "weed" patch, TPWD biologists, one VERY angry skunk, more drunk red-necks than I can count ("Hey Bud! Check this dude out. He's fly fishin'. Ain't no trout in here!"), and one couple performing an amazing feat of biology and balance on the back of a WaveRunner.

But for shear "Freak Factor", nothing has topped this. I was out with a client two summer's ago and stumbled across this snake (a nonpoisionous Diamondback Water Snake - Nerodia rhombifer). Surely he did not chase down this catfish but he was giving it his all trying to swallow it. We watched him for a good 4-5 minutes and finally got too close for his comfort; he spit out the fish and swam off about 8 feet (all this in just a few inches of water). We left him alone to continue our fishing and when we returned - there he was - lying in the water with a 9 inch, catfish-shaped LUMP a few inches past his head. Obviously too stuffed to move, he chose to stand ground and do his best Cottonmouth impression (we weren't fooled).